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W. R. Grace & Co. (Materials Technologies)
American specialty materials company (NYSE: GRA, HQ Columbia MD; ~$2.0B revenue); Materials Technologies division produces silica-based adsorbents, molecular sieves, and specialty silicas for gas purification, petroleum refining, and pharmaceutical applications. W. R. Grace molecular sieves compete with Honeywell UOP for PSA helium purification adsorbent applications. W. R. Grace has a complicated corporate history: the conglomerate was once one of the largest US companies (W. R. Grace & Co. also ran W. H. Grace shipping lines and Grace Steamship); in the 1990s-2000s, Grace faced massive asbestos liability from its vermiculite mining operations (Libby Montana) and filed for Chapter 11 in 2001 (one of the most complex asbestos bankruptcies in US history, lasting 11 years). The specialty materials company that survived the asbestos liability now makes the molecular sieves in helium purification units.
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Did you know2024
W. R. Grace's Materials Technologies division produces specialty silicas and molecular sieves that appear in three unrelated supply chains simultaneously: (1) helium purification — Grace molecular sieves in PSA helium plants remove trace impurities before liquefaction for hospital MRI supply; (2) pharmaceutical packaging — Grace silica gel desiccants are in pharmaceutical bottles and foil blister packs globally, protecting moisture-sensitive drugs; and (3) edible oil refining — Grace's Trisyl and Grade SI silica adsorbents remove color, flavor, and contaminants from vegetable oils (soybean, canola, sunflower) in food manufacturing. The company that once poisoned a Montana mining town with asbestos now makes the desiccants in your prescription bottles and the adsorbents that purify cooking oil — a 170-year arc from Irish immigrant shipping to specialty industrial chemistry.
W. R. Grace & Co. ↗Origin2023
W. R. Grace & Co. was founded in 1854 in New York by William Russell Grace — an Irish immigrant who built a Latin American trading and shipping empire (W. H. Grace & Co. shipping lines, Merchants' National Bank). Grace became the first Irish Catholic mayor of New York City (elected 1880). The company evolved through decades of acquisitions into specialty chemicals (FCC catalysts, silica) and diversified manufacturing. Grace' s Zonolite/Grace vermiculite mining operation in Libby, Montana (1963-1990) contaminated the town with tremolite asbestos — hundreds of residents died from asbestos-related disease, prompting the EPA's first-ever emergency removal action for a non-hazardous-waste site. W. R. Grace filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2001 specifically to manage asbestos liability; the bankruptcy lasted 11 years (one of the longest asbestos restructurings in US history) and resulted in a $3.96B asbestos settlement trust. The post-bankruptcy Grace continues as a specialty materials and catalyst company, having separated from its contamination legacy.
W. R. Grace & Co. ↗